Categories: uncategorized
Date: 16 August 2005 09:03:18
We must be approaching the 3rd Thursday in August again because the British media is launching its usual attack on A Levels (see BBC and Guardian for examples).
However, it is interesting that the Telegraph has a piece on a boy whose parents are going to court because the school won't let him come back in September to go into sixth form (the 2 years where students study for their AS and A Levels) due to the fact "he had not worked hard enough and his behaviour had been poor."
Although the paper uses this to try and show why independant schools are maintaining standards when all else around (ie the state sector) is apparently falling apart it has actually given one of the main reasons why grades are improving.
This type of gatekeeping is not just common practice in fee paying schools it is standard practice in most places now. If students have a bad disciplinary record they are often asked to look for alternatives if they wish to undertake post 16 study and students who fail to achieve sufficiently good GCSE grades are directed away from A Levels and onto alternative courses (and from my experience and what I hear from others these standards are increasing, not decreasing). As such more selection of pupils is taking place prior to the start of courses than may have previously been the case.
Also these gatekeeping procedures are used for students at the end of the AS year now aswell. When I was at school people tended to struggle for 2 years and then just fail at the end. Now people who do badly at the end of 1 year know that A Level is not for them and tend to go onto something else. Again all of this is going to increase the percentage of those passing because those who are unlikely to pass are weeded out before they get anywhere near an exam paper.
Finally I resent the fact that the implication of much of the argument around A Levels that people pass because of easier papers. The students I teach pass (or fail) because of how hard they work and, in part, because of the standard of teaching I give them. A Levels are not an easy option.
Ok rant over & I'll get back to the finger chewing I'm doing in the run up to Thursday. (Actually Third Party is away so I'm enjoying having what I want to see/listen to on the tv/stereo whilst I lose my almost non-existant nails). By the way if anybody reading this is waiting for their results I hope you do well.